Tennis Topic of the Day: Visual Discipline (Tracking the ball into the strings, obtaining visual feedback and making racket head adjustments)

*From 5.0 Tennis Secrets by Richard Hasse

"Aim for a small spot on the ball [the size of a coin]! [Spot target] Some players claim that you cannot use eyesight to see the ball when you hit it because it is moving too fast to focus on. They are half correct. Even though the ball and racket are moving too fast to get a detailed focused view of the impact you still need to observe each impact as it is taking place and notice as many details as possible about the impact. [Impact configuration] This skill has always and will always account for over half of any player’s success or failure on a tennis court. It is the most important skill in the game.

The exact open or closed face of the racket, the exact spot on the string bed where impact takes place, exactly how the racket moves during impact, and where the center of mass of the ball moves as impact is taking place are all important. Once you start noticing these things then you will build up a frame of reference .  . . use this feedback to perfect your game. Adjust your strokes to perfection. Keep in mind that you must adjust against every opponent, every day, every time you step on the court. Very quickly you will have world class placement. [Obtain and analyze feedback and adjust]"

*Selected brief excerpts and quotations are from 5.0 Tennis Secrets by Richard Hasse (in collaboration with Tennis Think Tank) (Independently published October 2017: 136 Pages)

Available on Amazon.com in Kindle and Paperback formats.

For much more on this and many related topics on USTA 5.0 level tennis, you are invited to obtain and explore Coach Hasse's fascinating and thought-provoking book. 

Tennis is Timeless: Ten Years of Timeless Tennis

Wow. It’s now been ten years of Timeless Tennis. I started this Blog to showcase the nature of tennis. Thanks for reading and sticking with me. Together, we have shown that tennis offers powerful lessons for both sport and life itself - and that tennis is truly timeless! Enjoy this video.

Tennis is Timeless - Ten Years of Timeless Tennis (Duration: 5:48)
Music: “With or Without You”, Scala & Kolacny Broths. (from U2) (No copyright infringement is intended. Fair use exception.)

Tennis Book of the Day: "American Colossus: Big Bill Tilden and the Creation of Modern Tennis", by Allen M. Hornblum

Philadelphia-native Bill Tilden (1893-1953) was the first international tennis superstar, and is still considered among the greatest players ever. He transformed the nature of the sport, and blazed a trail which helped tennis become what it is today - a global phenomenon. He was the Federer of tennis before Federer. Recognized as an intellectual, author and teacher, he even acted occasionally in Broadway plays - a true Renaissance Man. His flamboyant life and record-setting career are meticulously chronicled in the masterful book American Colossus: Big Bill Tilden and the Creation of Modern Tennis, by Allen M. Hornblum (University of Nebraska Press, 2018).

Tennis Topic of the Day: Geometric Thinking (David Foster Wallace)

"[T]ennis, like pool, requires geometric thinking, the ability to calculate not merely your own angles but the angles of response to your angles. Because the expansion of response-possibilities is quadratic, you are required to think n shots ahead, where n is a hyperbolic function limited by the sinh of the opponent's talent and the cosh of the number of shots in the rally so far." Derivative Sport in Tornado Alley (An essay), David Foster Wallace from On Tennis: Five Essays, (Little, Brown: New York 2014) 

Tennis Topic of the Day: Health Benefits of Tennis

Courtesy: www.uactiv.com

Courtesy: Tennis Fitness on Facebook

Tennis Quote of the Day: Learning is a gift.